• May 2, 1946 - February 16, 2015
• When Brooklyn-born and Tenafly, New Jersey-raised Lesley Gore recorded a couple of demos with her vocal coach, she probably didn't expect them to make their way to the in-tray of the president of the Mercury record label. He signed the 16-year-old singer and linked her up with producer Quincy Jones.
• Gore and Jones chose "It's My Party" out of a stack of demos to record for her debut single. It was rush released as Phil Spector intended recording the song with The Crystals and climbed all the way to #1 on the Hot 100.
• Gore reeled off a number of other successful singles between 1963 and 1967, including "Judy's Turn To Cry," (the sequel to "It's My Party"), "She's A Fool," "You Don't Own Me," "That's the Way Boys Are," and "Maybe I Know." In total she racked up 11 Top 40 hits on the Hot 100.
• Gore was a junior at the Dwight School for Girls when "It's My Party" became a #1 hit and she continued to combine her singing career with her studies throughout the 1960s. After high school, she attended Sarah Lawrence College, all all-female university, graduating in 1968 with a degree in English/American literature.
• She also tried her hand at acting. Gore portrayed Catwoman's sidekick Pussycat in two episodes of the 1960's cult television show Batman lip-synching "California Nights" in one of the shows. She also appeared in Smokey Joe's Cafe on Broadway.
• Her brother Michael Gore was the musical supervisor on Fame and was responsible for coming up with the songs for the movie. Lesley helped him out, penning the lyrics for "Out Here On My Own," which garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song.
• Gore officially came out to the public when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series In The Life, during the mid 2000s, which dealt with gay and lesbian issues. She stated in a 2005 interview with After Ellen that she had been living with her partner for more than 23 years. It was later reported that Gore's partner was a jewelry designer, Lois Sasson.
• Lesley Gore passed away on February 16, 2015 from lung cancer at New York University Langone Medical Center. She was 68.

Comments: 1

• Connie Johnson from GaLeslie Gore was awesome

More Songfacts:

Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit Of)Lou Bega

The party tune "Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit Of)" was the theme song for the 2000 Democratic Convention (the party of Bill Clinton), until someone noticed the line, "A little bit of Monica in my life."

Up-Up and AwayThe 5th Dimension

Jimmy Webb was inspired to write The 5th Dimension song "Up-Up and Away" after seeing a hot-air balloon his friend flew on promotions for the Southern California radio station KMEN.

Unchained MelodyThe Righteous Brothers

"Unchained Melody" first appeared in a 1955 movie called Unchained. The Righteous Brothers recorded it in 1965, and their version was resurrected in the 1990 movie Ghost.

Paul RevereBeastie Boys

In Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere," the title refers to the name of a horse. They took it from a song in the musical Guys And Dolls where a character sings, "I got the horse right here, the name is Paul Revere."

Everything ZenBush

References to David Bowie, Tom Waits and Allan Ginsburg are peppered into the Bush song "Everything Zen."

Return To SenderElvis Presley

When the Elvis stamps came out in 1993, lots of folks used them to mail letters with bad addresses so they would be Returned To Sender.

Editor's Picks

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Glen BallardSongwriter Interviews

Glen Ballard talks about co-writing and producing Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill album, and his work with Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and Annie Lennox.

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.

They Might Be GiantsSongwriter Interviews

Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.

Mike Rutherford (Genesis, Mike + The Mechanics)Songwriter Interviews

Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.